Even The Darkest Night
by greyslostwho
Summary: Peter and Olivia in another of those AUs that are sprouting out everywhere, slightly ambiguous. Open enough and plot-less enough to be randomly updated, whenever. Decidely Bolivia.
1. You shoot when you're scared

**Title: Even The Darkest Night**

**Author: greyslostwho**

**Pairing: Decidedly Peter/Olivia.**

**Rating: PG for now**

**Summary: Peter and Olivia in another of those AUs that are sprouting out everywhere, slightly ambiguous. Open enough and plot-less enough to be randomly updated, whenever.**

**Spoilers: None, not really.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Really.**

I.

"You worried about something?"

She turned, in between shots, to see him standing there smiling at her, leant against the haphazard doorway. She slid the makeshift ear guards off her head, returning the smile and shaking her head.

"No, why?"

He pulled the metal that was standing in for a door into place and walked over to her, placing his hands on her hips and leaning towards her slightly.

"You shoot when you're scared."

For a moment her eyes flickered closed and she leant into him.

"Peter… I'm fine." Said with such conviction he _knew _it was a lie.

He tucked a flyaway strand of blonde behind her ear gently and that earnt him a small smile. "This is a big deal, 'Livia. I'm afraid… jeez, I'm freaking terrified."

She smiled again, tilting forward so her forehead touched his.

"I've… I've been training for this my whole life. I'm ready."

His lips, gently pressed to hers, making her regret, just for a moment.

"Is anyone ever completely ready to die?" the words grazed her skin, and after a second it was as if they had never been said. She shrugged anyway, curling one hand to hold the back of his neck, the other resting on his side, feeling the tension seizing in his muscles through the starched uniform. He kissed the corner of her mouth gently, and she had to swallow.

"I sure as hell wish I believed in your heaven, Peter."

She still found his smile made her heart speed up, even after all these years.

"You don't have to believe in it, Liv, I 'm going to see you there, regardless."

The next kiss led to her biting down on his lip so hard he could taste the blood, she could taste the blood, bitter and salty and bringing her crashing back down to an earth she no longer seemed to be part of.

"I hope so."

**It's a birthday, of sorts, this being my sixtieth fic on here!!! (though at some stage I may farm through the crappy ones from when I was fourteen and leave myself with a considerably smaller number) The AU is still forming in my mind, somehow, so it's not going to make _complete_ sense all of the time. It's not necessarily going to be a regular posting-thing, because I have too many of those on the go as it is. Dependant on my mood, I guess.**

**I hope you enjoy. Shameless Bolivia tends to go down well.**


	2. Waking from fitful dreams

**Title: Even The Darkest Night**

**Author: greyslostwho**

**Pairing: Decidedly Peter/Olivia.**

**Rating: PG for now**

**Summary: Peter and Olivia in another of those AUs that are sprouting out everywhere, slightly ambiguous. Open enough and plot-less enough to be randomly updated, whenever.**

**Spoilers: None, not really.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Really.**

II.

In the middle of the night, together, they stirred, waking from fitful dreams of fast moving fog and oncoming blackness and total oblivion. It took him a second to register her similar state, and three for his arms to snake around her, always initiating.

She shook her head slowly, her eyes welling up.

"I'm so tired." She whispered, her shoulders shaking, and normally he'd be the most understanding person in the world, he would wrap her in his arms and let her rest her head on his chest so she could try and claim the sleep that had been stolen from her eyelids. But tonight was everything and nothing, tonight they were both out for themselves, and he didn't think he would get by without her. He stared into her eyes, defying her.

"It might be the last…" he started to say, and his voice was loud and gravely where he was forcing the emotion down. She put a finger to his lips, eyes darting.

"You have to be quiet." She hissed, "Every night could be the last."

He frowned at her. "Please, Liv…"

A deep sigh marked her yielding to his wishes.

His body moved over hers with liquid clarity, his arms bracing himself above her, his muscles, the sordid results of forced training, rippling as he strived to drown himself in her.

She was one of the best, Olivia Dunham, there was no doubt about it, but Peter suspected no one had ever seen how vulnerable she looked laid under him, tears of desperation leaking from her eyes, her soul for once not searching.

He pressed searing kisses to her, but for five minutes she was nothing more than _Olivia. _

Nothing hurt as much as feeling the mattress shake with her sobs afterwards, watching her roll away from his embrace.

And wake in the morning like nothing had happened.

**This won't all be angst, I promise. There will be fluff, action... you name it... it's very open to alteration of any kind :)**


	3. A small dose of mild concussion

**Title: Even The Darkest Night**

**Author: greyslostwho**

**Pairing: Decidedly Peter/Olivia.**

**Rating: PG for now**

**Summary: Peter and Olivia in another of those AUs that are sprouting out everywhere, slightly ambiguous. Open enough and plot-less enough to be randomly updated, whenever.**

**Spoilers: None, not really.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Really.**

III.

He told her he loved her as they took shelter from an explosion behind half an old concrete wall that had once been part of a prison. Neither of them had really thought they'd had sufficient shelter, they hadn't had the time to get far enough away, and as they watched the seconds tick away on Peter's timer, he'd grabbed her wrist, pulled her closed to him, and whispered that truth into her ear before the explosion engulfed everything.

Later, he woke under a showering of rubble, with a banging head and a broken leg, and immediately he sought her out, dreading the worst, although he knew he had crossed a line and broken a thousand rules when he got attached. His fingers were bleeding where he used his nails to tear at the rubble, finding a slightly sprinkling of blonde hair over one of the stones, brushing away the dust and the stones to find her, lying still on her side, her hands braced above her head. There was the moment of horror followed by the sinking relief as her eyes flickered open and she stared up at him, strange eyes shining out through a face white with the dust from the explosion. Funnily enough, the only damage done was a cut on her right cheek that would later form a pale scar, and a small dose of mild concussion.

*

She told him she loved him as he helped her to fasten her bullet proof harness to go under her clothes. He fastened the last clip, and placed a tiny kiss to her left shoulder, holding her there for a moment. Her right hand found his and she clasped it tightly, revelling in the feeling of his fingers looping through hers.

"You'll be there, at the end?" she whispered. She knew it wasn't protocol, but what she was agreeing to do… this was big… and she knew no one would argue if she insisted Peter was by her side. He was no use without her, anyway. He nuzzled into her neck, kissing her where he knew she'd feel it most.

"I'll be holding you hand, 'Livia."

She was silent for a long moment, still against him.

"Y'know I love you, right, Peter?"

He did now. He spun her round, fusing their lips together fiercely, a smile on his face. When he pulled back, the shield had come down over his face, leaving something there that normally made Olivia wince and turn away – he was closing off from her.

"Don't you go saying your goodbyes, Agent Dunham. I'll be seeing you again."

**As always, I love feedback :)**


	4. The soft sound of nothing at all

**Title: Even The Darkest Night**

**Author: greyslostwho**

**Pairing: Decidedly Peter/Olivia.**

**Rating: PG for now**

**Summary: Peter and Olivia in another of those AUs that are sprouting out everywhere, slightly ambiguous. Open enough and plot-less enough to be randomly updated, whenever.**

**Spoilers: None, not really.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Really.**

IV.

The first time she allowed herself to consider the what ifs and maybes was as she laid on the threadbare, third hand couch in their bunker, her head in his lap. He was running his fingers through her hair; fingertips dancing across her skin, leaving a trail like scorch marks on the floor where a fire had been set.

"I would have been thirty-two today." She breathed, after she'd finished calculating, her eyes fluttering up to his face, catching him unawares and making his chest heave. "That's almost old."

He gave her that grin, that one she had come to know and love, and scratched his fingers slightly, gently, across her scalp. "And I would have had flowers sent to you wherever you were, I would have surprised you at lunchtime by turning up and hindering all your important work… doing whatever you would be doing… and I would have taken you out dancing at night."

She raised an eyebrow, her hand finding it's way to rest on his arm in the crook of his elbow, her cool fingers leaving him with the aftershock of a shiver. "You dance?"

"I can do anything." He chuckled, "And then I'd have brought you home and made love to you until it was morning."

She grinned, kissing his fingers as they trailed down to her lips. Slowly, he pulled her up so she was sat in his lap, faces close.

"That present you can still give me." She cocked her head to one side, almost coy, and he twined his arms around her waist and lowered his lips to her neck before stopping suddenly.

"I can do one better than that." He whispered, and he eased her off his lap, standing up himself, tugging her after him through the tunnels, and suddenly she realised where they were going when they reach the long shaft with the circle of starlight at the top.

"Peter, we haven't been here for years." Her voice sounded like a child who knew what she was doing was forbidden, and it made him smile.

"Then it's about time." He whispered, gesturing to the ladder. "Ladies first."

"We know why it was out of bounds now…" she whispered, but when he was looking at her like that any attempt to argue was futile. She sighed, running her fingers through his as she stepped away and started to climb.

For a while they forgot about radiation, and invisible toxic gas, and sniper fire. They stood under the stars, hand in hand, like nothing could break them.

And then Peter drew her closer and they danced to the soft sound of nothing at all.

**GLW**


	5. The silent little blonde girl

**Title: Even The Darkest Night**

**Author: greyslostwho**

**Pairing: Decidedly Peter/Olivia.**

**Rating: PG for now**

**Summary: Peter and Olivia in another of those AUs that are sprouting out everywhere, slightly ambiguous. Open enough and plot-less enough to be randomly updated, whenever.**

**Spoilers: None, not really.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Really.**

V. _The Silent Little Blonde Girl_

They had been partnered at the respective ages of four and seven, both being classed as "difficult" cases. In the trial bunkers, the scientists would ponder how Peter could prove so unresponsive when his father had been the instigator of the whole whole operation. In the haphazard shelters were the rescued children who had no one else were taken, the charitable workers wondered about the little blonde girl who wouldn't talk to a soul, but seemed to have some incredible quality about her.

It happened completely by accident. One of the shelter workers brought the silent little blonde girl down to the lab for tests when she'd started a few minimal fires, and one of the scientists was checking Peter over for the last time, knowing they couldn't discharge him because of who his father had been, but preparing to give up on ever making him one of them. They'd send him somewhere where they made the useless ones useful, probably. To the kitchens, or to the schools.

One of the men was trying to usher Peter away, muttering something about failure under his breath. The doctor was trying to take a blood sample from the little girl. At the same moment, the pair of them looked up, fear shining out of their eyes, and those eyes fused together in a moment. All the meters taking various readings from the girl peaked at the same moment, and the scientists in the observation chamber watched in horror as the man holding Peter and the doctor simultaneously erupted into flames. After the smoke cleared, and the scientists were beginning to make some sense of the readings on the screens, they saw the boy and the girl, standing side by side, both untouched by the flames. They watched incredulously as she let Peter reach out and touch her hand.

*

Bell and the others had big plans for them, after they'd begun to understand it. Olivia, the name they'd given to the unknown little rescue child, she held all the power. Alongside pyrokinesis they detected telekinesis and a small degree of telepathy among her talents. But the big winner, the trait that made the ZFT board sit up and actually begin to believe in themselves again was her shield. She was able to deactivate anyone within a certain radius, depending on power and proximity, to different degrees. Bell hypothesised that if she learnt the appropriate control she might be able to deactivate powers without their being any outward sign, in perfect secrecy.

The ZFT had just found their perfect weapon.

The boy was equally important. He seemed not only to be able to access all of Olivia's powers through her, but also the powers of those she deactivated, if he was standing beside her, fighting with her. Their telepathic connection was unlike anything they'd ever seen, and every single board member was thanking their lucky stars they'd found these two this young, before they could even begin to develop minds of their own – because they were more powerful than the rest of them put together. Outside Olivia's power radius, Peter was useless, inside it, he was priceless. Not to mention the friendship that seemed to have formed between them, trust without thought. Bell ordered their partnership immediately.


	6. And it was beautiful

**Title: Even The Darkest Night**

**Author: greyslostwho**

**Pairing: Decidedly Peter/Olivia.**

**Rating: PG for now**

**Summary: Peter and Olivia in another of those AUs that are sprouting out everywhere, slightly ambiguous. Open enough and plot-less enough to be randomly updated, whenever.**

**Spoilers: None, not really.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Really.**

VI. _And it was beautiful_

The first time Peter ever realised he felt anything for his Half, he was fifteen, she was twelve. She wasn't quite like the Halves of the other boys in his bunker, just practice partners with a similar telepathic reading, she was different. They moved seamlessly together, like two halves, so to speak, of the same person. They'd been perfecting their telepathy in a tutorial with one of the agents, as over the years the pair had become adept at sharing emotions, but, to the scientists' disbelief, not anything more. It was clear there was miles of unlocked potential in the space between their minds. They'd been growing more and more frustrated during the sixth or seventh useless session that week, when Olivia had spun round, eyes glinting, the way she looked when she had figured something out quicker than him.

"Let me try something, Peter."

"What?"

"I'm gonna push my shield down, right down, and then you're gonna try and hear my thought."

He didn't say a word as she took his hands, screwed her eyes tight shut and gritted her teeth. He trusted her on this. She always seemed to have more control, more understanding of their abilities… she held all the power, it had been drummed into him ever since he'd met her, he was only her tool, her way to use it.

_Hi, Peter. _Her voice was all of a sudden in his head, seeping it's way into his every thought. But they were both unskilled at this new method, and all of a sudden he found pictures flashing before his eyes, thoughts assaulting him. He was inside her head, and it was beautiful.

She collapsed against him, and it was all wiped away in an instant, her shield rebounding, her body shaking against his.

He never saw her in quite the same way after that.


	7. Outside on the barren earth

**Title: Even The Darkest Night**

**Author: greyslostwho**

**Pairing: Decidedly Peter/Olivia.**

**Rating: PG for now**

**Summary: Peter and Olivia in another of those AUs that are sprouting out everywhere, slightly ambiguous. Open enough and plot-less enough to be randomly updated, whenever.**

**Spoilers: None, not really.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Really.**

VII. _Outside on the barren earth_

He didn't kiss her until she was sixteen, though he'd been wanting to. Turned out he had more control than her, more discretion, and he'd managed to conceal his feelings every time she was in his mind. But that night they'd snuck out, like they often did, shinning up the escape tunnel and laying outside on the barren earth, watching the stars and the lights, residues of forgotten explosions. They laid on their backs next to each other like every other night, talking about the books they'd read about the real world, the old world, and contemplating what the next months would bring – finally being sent into recruit training, the youngest ever recorded.

They turned their heads together at the same time, and both realised how close they were. Peter felt Olivia shrink her shield slowly, almost tantalisingly, both of them silent. He watched her in the starlight, thinking he'd never seen anyone so beautiful. The fact that she'd grown up hadn't been lost on him, not these past three years. She had a figure now, gentle, subtle curves in the right places that she couldn't hide, even under the stark, unisex recruit uniforms. Her hair was as long and as blonde as ever, enchanting, enthralling, and he was dreading, without ever telling her, how she'd have to have it all cut off next week in their induction to recruit training. He imagined watching it fall to the ground. But she'd still be beautiful. If it wasn't her hair, it would be her eyes, a colour not quite nameable, and her lips, which had suddenly become so full and inviting, without him even noticing…

He couldn't define at what point in the last four years he'd even realised what love was, but once he had he knew it was hers. His heart was hers, always had been, always would be. But somehow they danced around each other still, at this age that no one could really define, not quite adults, far beyond children, unable to put a label to the fast beating heart and sweaty palms when they were _this close. _

Her mouth curved into a smile, like for that moment, in that second, she was where she wanted to be in the world.

"Hurry up and kiss me, Bishop." She breathed, and as his eyes fixed into hers, he felt her mind open around him, drawing him in, enticing, impossible.

Their lips met in two smiles.


	8. Through the bright, artificial light

**Title: Even The Darkest Night**

**Author: greyslostwho**

**Pairing: Decidedly Peter/Olivia.**

**Rating: PG for now**

**Summary: Peter and Olivia in another of those AUs that are sprouting out everywhere, slightly ambiguous. Open enough and plot-less enough to be randomly updated, whenever.**

**Spoilers: None, not really.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Really.**

VIII. _Through the bright, artificial light_

"Olivia, will you tell me what's wrong?" he yelled, "I can't fucking help you if you put up that fucking shield!"

"Go away, Peter!" was the only reply, echoing off the dirt walls. Peter's jaw set, firmly, and he sank right down into the mattress they'd only just begun to share.

"Not going anywhere." He said softly. "I'm right here.

Minutes later, she pushed open the covering plastic they used as a bathroom door and tossed something onto the sheets beside him, pacing the limited space as he picked it up and registered.

"Where did you-"

"Does it fucking matter?" she spat, "I lifted it from the store room last time I did inventory."

"I…" he stuttered, and she rolled her eyes, dark emotions zipping through her as she stared at the young man crouched on her bed, brow furrowed, clutching the Japanese issue pregnancy test, plus sign universal, and condemning. For a moment they stared at each other through the bright artificial light, blue eyes and grey.

"I'm sorry…" he started, but stopped. An apology seemed totally inadequate. Olivia shook her head, looking away as he went on, "You know you have to-"

"I'll book an appointment at the lab tonight." She snapped, and turned further away so he couldn't see the tears dashing down her cheeks. He was reminded for a moment that she was only nineteen, still a child in some ways, far older than him in others. He thought maybe, just for a second, that he should leave, let her lay and cry her tears alone, over something that was all his fault.

Well, half his fault.

But he felt a gentle nudging as she forced her shield wide open, letting him into her head, conceding defeat.

"It's a complete fuck-up, Peter, and I know I've got an easy way out but I can't help…"

But she didn't need to talk, he could hear every thought before she could voice it.

_I almost wanted it, almost, for a second._

_I didn't think I could feel like this._

_I've screwed this up now, I know I have._

_Don't leave me._

_I'm here, _he thought, lying back on the mat, staring at the ceiling. It took her ten minutes to curl up beside him, her head on his chest, limbs entangled.

They didn't move, in the end, til morning.


	9. He thought he was dreaming

**Title: Even The Darkest Night**

**Author: greyslostwho**

**Pairing: Decidedly Peter/Olivia.**

**Rating: PG for now**

**Summary: Peter and Olivia in another of those AUs that are sprouting out everywhere, slightly ambiguous. Open enough and plot-less enough to be randomly updated, whenever.**

**Spoilers: None, not really.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Really.**

IX. _He thought he was dreaming_

The first time he saw her shoot, he thought he was dreaming. Ever since they'd started their recruit training two years ago they'd been spending more time in their separate regiments – Bell had realised the benefits of having the two of them able to function separately in case they ever suffered a loss. All their military training had taken place apart – and even now, now they'd both graduated with their first stripe – neither knew what the other was like in combat.

The past two years had been busy; military training in the morning, their ability training in the afternoons, and every night spend sneaking to their secret place outside, spending every moment possible together.

He still had a banging hangover from their whiskey celebrations the night before as he staggered down the steps into the shooting range. It hadn't meant all that much to him, but he had known what it had meant to Olivia, to gain her first stripe, to be recognised as more than just the foundling girl with the strange power, and so he had lifted a bottle of 10 year old whiskey from the store room, found a couple of dusty glasses and _celebrated _into the night.

He could see her long blonde ponytail breezing behind her as she moved like the wind, gunshots sounding everywhere, bullets flying in all directions, her speed and accuracy almost graceful. When she stopped, still unaware of his presence, and lay the pistol down, pulling off her ear shields and goggles, he realised she'd hit every target right through the heart on her first try.

That was when he knew she would always be a hundred times more valuable than him.


	10. Staring into the almost dark

**Title: Even The Darkest Night**

**Author: greyslostwho**

**Pairing: Decidedly Peter/Olivia.**

**Rating: PG for now**

**Summary: Peter and Olivia in another of those AUs that are sprouting out everywhere, slightly ambiguous. Open enough and plot-less enough to be randomly updated, whenever.**

**Spoilers: None, not really.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Really.**

X. _Staring into the almost dark_

She'd sneaked out of her bunker the night before they were due to travel across country to the base where they were going to train further with more advanced ability specialists and begin their first military posts. It was dangerous, travelling that far – the upkeep of the tunnel systems was precarious. She didn't know what was possessing her – since the nuclear scare two weeks ago they'd decided not to climb out of their tunnel, not anymore. But she remembered Peter saying something about all his bunker mates having already moved out, and she hoped to God he was alone.

He was alone and he couldn't sleep either, lying on his back staring into the almost dark, only slightly lit with the near blue glow of artificial tunnel lighting. He knew who she was, felt her mind, without even looking at her, and he shuffled over on the small bunk to make room for her. But something was different tonight, and she lowered herself on top of him, her eyes dark and glittering in the half light, her mouth moist and warm on his cheekbone, his jaw, his throat. His late evening stubble grazed her face as he caught her intentions and started to kiss her as enthusiastically as she was kissing him.

She pulled back, only to pull her sweater over her head, followed by the thin grey cotton vest she wore to bed. Peter, overwhelmed and astounded, but already shirtless, did not attempt to undress himself further, only reached up and tugged out the band holding her hair in place. Blonde waves cascaded over them both, curtaining them from the world as he pulled her back down to him, the feel of bare skin on bare skin igniting both of them. His lips were on hers, her hands were _everywhere_, and it hardly took seconds for both their pants and underwear to lay on the dirt floor beside Peter's bunk. His hands remained comb-fixed into her hair, his eyes never leaving hers.

He flipped them both, until he was gazing down at her, the intensity of his stare far more revealing to her than any amount of undressing. He was heavier than she'd expected, almost suffocating, having every inch of lean, hard muscle pressing down on her.

"Are you-" he began, and she could hear in his voice the effect she had on him.

"I want you." She gasped, a truth she hadn't realised until it was spoken.

"I love you."

She was eighteen years old, and he was the first and only person to say that to her in her whole life. She silently wrapped her legs around him and let him inside her, crying her reciprocation over and over into the night.


	11. Her desperation was near to painful

**Title: Even The Darkest Night**

**Author: greyslostwho**

**Pairing: Decidedly Peter/Olivia.**

**Rating: PG for now**

**Summary: Peter and Olivia in another of those AUs that are sprouting out everywhere, slightly ambiguous. Open enough and plot-less enough to be randomly updated, whenever.**

**Spoilers: None, not really.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Really.**

**I realise I haven't posted this story in a hideous amount of time. It's ongoing, but it's easy to neglect, for some reason. Bear with me, hope you like this installment.**

XI. _Her desperation was near to painful._

He'd never seen a fire in her eyes so strong before. He'd never seen her so blazing, so passionate, so beautiful. He tried to keep hold of her, her face, her shoulders, encircling her waist, but she was like wine slipping through a broken glass.

"Not this time, Peter. Not this time. I won't let them take anything from me, not again…"

He eyes were wild – she couldn't see that they had no choice. He managed to get a firm grip on her hands.

"Livia, we-"

She was shaking her head, fiercely. "I can't… it's too much to ask… I won't do it again!"

"You know the rules-"

"Fuck the rules! I've done everything that's been asked of me, Peter, since the day they found me, and – that's exactly it! I don't belong here, I'm not one of you-" she stopped, her hand flying to her mouth. His eyes were daggers. "I didn't mean that, Peter, I didn't mean you…"

When he loosened his grip on her hands she pulled him close and buried her face in his neck. "I didn't mean you, I love you, you know that… I love you…" He desperation was near to painful.

"They're mine, too." He breathed, his eyes dark, "The babies… they're mine too, it hurts me too." His lips ghosted across hers, and eyes met.

"I just… I just don't think I can walk into the lab _again, _I don't think I can lay in bed for a day crying again… you know this makes number six?" her eyes are spilling, but she's gripping him tightly. "I think I'll just… stop breathing if they try and take one away again…"

His lips on hers were hungry, desperate. "We can't…" he cupped her cheek. "You really want to do this?"

"I have to…"

That was a lie; that much he knew. He knew she was strong enough to walk into the lab the following morning and demand another abortion, and lay in bed recuperating for 24 hours, with him sitting by her side. She would survive that, they would survive that, and they would go on as they had been. But it was the inevitable cycle of the future that would break them both.

"You know we can't stay-"

"There are other people, other places. We'll have to-"

"It's so dangerous, Liv."

She kissed him again, fingers pulling at his short hair.

"I have to do this, Peter. I can't stay here… I can't give them another… I can't sit back and do what is ordered, not anymore…" Tears were flowing over her skin, and she was shaking, "I can't stay here, I'm not losing who I am, I'm losing everything – Peter, I hardly _feel _anymore – not anger, fear, disappointment… I can't be their weapon at the expense of being human…"

He held her as she cried.


End file.
